


Paint Me The Yellow Sun

by lousmoonshine



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 1990s, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Small Town, American Louis Tomlinson, Bisexual Harry Styles, British Harry Styles, Character Development, Closeted Character, Coming of Age, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Metaphors, Parties, Period-Typical Homophobia, Recreational Drug Use, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Teenagers, Toxic Relationships, many queer characters, sexual awakening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:29:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28942974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lousmoonshine/pseuds/lousmoonshine
Summary: There was a story somebody really important to Louis Tomlinson once told him, it was about Van Gogh and his yellow paint. Legend has it that he was so sad he ate yellow paint to be happy, because the feeling of happiness was represented by the color yellow. In exchange, Louis taught this person what it meant to have a yellow person. That is, the person who saved you. The person who makes your life worth living, who makes you feel the joy and love that you never thought you deserved.Or, the one in which Louis meets Harry during the summer of '97, a boy who painted yellow sunsets on the beach.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s), Louis Tomlinson/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Paint Me The Yellow Sun

Us humans were created to make mistakes. To be flawed. We trip, fall, get up, fall again, keep walking, until we eventually get to our destination. Our imperfections are what make us perfect, what make us **humans**.

We are allowed to be wrong, to cry, to fail, to be happy, to feel sad, to feel accomplished. But everything we do in life is to reach one ultimate goal: the exuberant feeling of happiness. No matter what we do, we do it either to make ourselves, or others, happy.

The measures we would take to reach this desired goal are unbelievable. Some people cheat, some manipulate, others risk their lives and wellbeing.

This is the reason the insecure girl you used to know in high school still hasn't broken up with her toxic boyfriend, because on the inside, he makes her happy. Or that's what she thinks.

This is the reason people become so addicted to drugs or alcohol. Because they suppress their feelings of sadness, making them confuse the high with happiness.

We fool ourselves into keeping toxic people or things in our lives because we believe they are what is right for us, we want to believe it is right, when in reality all it does is intoxicate our insides, our souls, with no symptoms.

They are our yellow paint. They represent happiness for us, and we keep eating it, like Van Gogh supposedly did. But the paint is toxic to us, very toxic, yet we don't stop.

But contrast to the yellow paint, we also have a yellow person. This person is the reason we wake up every day. They bring us real, healthy, genuine happiness. Our twin flame, our soulmate, our reason for living. The person who saved us, who makes our faces heat up every time their name is randomly brought up during a conversation. Our heros.

Harry taught Louis that with happiness sometimes comes pain, and Louis taught Harry that after pain, happiness is always there to welcome you.


	2. Prologue

**Clearview Waters, June 1997.**

School year was finally over for the students of Clearview High. They have been waiting for this week for months now. The annual Senior Bonfire.

Held annually at the private beach of the Lordfort, ever since Alex Tomlinson was a sophomore in High School, this bonfire was the biggest and most awaited party of the year, especially for the seniors. Alex befriended some seniors at his school and decided to give them a proper goodbye, hosting the Senior Bonfire for the first time in 1984, tradition that continues until present day. When Alex graduated, he left the bonfire in charge of Kyle, the second of the Tomlinsons, who then gave the honors of hosting it to Patrick.

But this year, the three older Tomlinson boys had the responsibility of teaching their little brother all of the Bonfire's secrets, as much as they were against it.

"He's a child. He won't be able to handle everything that comes with the bonfire. He just wouldn't. And this is huge." Argued Patrick against giving the power to his brother.

"He is a grown man now, Pat. And much more mature than you were when you hosted your first bonfire. He already booked mom and dad's romantic getaway to get them off the country while this happens. And he already knows about what happens at the cabin, so don't need to have that uncomfortable talk with him as I did with your sorry immature ass." Alex calmly explained to his annoyed younger sibling.

"Let's face it, Pat. He is so much more capable of handling these kinda things. I bet this bonfire will be better than yours." Kyle remarked. "And I already helped him pick all the booze for the thing. This is going to be crazy. Your _immature ass_ will go crazy after seeing the inflatable waterslide he has. The bonfire will be huge. The biggest one yet I think."

"Wait, we are going to the thing?"

"Of course we are, we always go."

"But what will happen with the cabin? Is he going to take someone there? Because it's not the point if he is the one losing- I mean the host has to be the one taking- I mean we all know that he- I can't even say it." Patrick sighed, still not at ease with the subject.

“Oh my God, Pat. You don’t even know if he-“

“Kyle, he is.” Alex murmured, interrupting his brother.

“I saw him with Svenson the other day, you can’t tell me there was nothing going on there.” Patrick sighed, leaning his upper body on the kitchen counter. “I just wished he talked to us. He knows we know, it’s unspoken but it is there. I have gay friends; he knows we would never judge him.”

“He will when he is ready. And if he never does, then that’s okay too. We just need to make sure he knows we support and love him.” Alex explained calmly, sipping on his tea.

“But wait, with Svenson? I never pictured him with our little brother like that. I always thought it would be Horan the one to break and give into little Lou’s charms:”

Alex chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah, Horan’s too much of a ladies’ man.”

“Why is it our business what happens down at the cabin anyway?” Kyle asked, opening the refrigerator and splashing the kitchen floor with its bright light.

“Well, it is our legacy. After his parties our family won’t be hosting the bonfire anymore, it will have to go to a random senior or junior every year. It is Clearview High tradition; our name will forever be tied to the school. I guess he can be an exception for the cabin, we can’t force him into something like this. But with what I’ve seen, I don’t think the cabin will be completely skipped this year…”

“Oh good lord, Lou.”


	3. One.

Summer. 5 minutes. Louis’ eyes haven’t left the clock the entire day, waiting for this exact moment. All the useless notes and doodles from the entire year were already picked to scatter all over the school’s premises. It was obviously going to get him in trouble, but who cares? They are fucking out.

The bell rings, everyone jumps out of their seat, beaming with happiness, not even bothering giving the poor teacher a chance to dismiss her students. He grabs all of his stuff, papers and notes in hand, and heads out into the hallways. Niall and Charlie were already waiting for him, each with an armful of crumbled up ripped notebook pages.

“Ready?” he asks. They both nod. “You have the key?”

“Got it.” Niall smirks, pulling the key to the school’s rooftops from his pocket. Louis forcefully takes the key from his grasp and runs to the fire emergency stairs. They both catch up to him when a door stops him at the top of the stairwell.

“Charlie, would you do the honors?” he bites his lip, swinging the keys in front of Charlie’s face. He smiles too, taking the keys away from Louis and unlocking the door.

The sun was boiling the concrete floor they were standing on, there was nothing but air ducts adorning the roof. They could see everything from there, students racing to get out of school, meeting their friends and rushing to their cars. If this was just a little stunt they were pulling for the sake of celebrating the new and more amazing senior bonfire that was coming, they couldn't wait for the senior prank their class was planning for the upcoming year. Oh, that reminded him,

“Guys, wait!” he called, stopping them from doing anything yet. "I got these printed out for everyone to see." He took out a stack of yellow flyers inviting everyone to the bonfire. "Now we're ready."

Flyers for the party, notes and assignments of the past school year filled the air and the floor of the campus. Charlie blasted music from some speakers that for some reason resided on the rooftop, and Louis smiled seeing as everyone cheered and joined in on their mischief, ripping the pages off their notebooks and throwing them in the air. He was happy, genuinely happy after seeing everyone's reaction. This was just the start of an amazing year.

Or so he thought, cause next thing he knew Niall, Charlie and him were sitting in front of the school’s principal empty desk, waiting for him to finish his meeting with the VP.

“Guys, calm down. It’s not like he can suspend us or anything. The year is _over,_ they can’t do anything against us at this point.” Louis said, trying to knock some sense into their heads. It was his idea in the first place, and they both knew him so well, they knew he would stand up for them and take all the blame if he had to, he had nothing to lose after all.

The school patriarch entered the room with a sigh, running his hands against his face and leaning over his desk. His deep stare made Louis uncomfortable, he shifted in his seat and let his eyes wonder into the displayed diplomas hanging behind Mr. Adams’ shiny bald head, as if he was suddenly interested that he had received a PhD in Education from NYU. The middle aged man sighed, and slumped down on his chair, he had been dealing with teenagers pretty much all his adult life, yet he still couldn’t keep up with them.

“Charlie, Niall, you are my star students. The golden ones. What did I do for you to turn on me like that? I would have never expected this from you two. And you, Louis. Your brothers were troublemakers, for sure. But this kind of mischief... teenagers are over this. This is children's stuff. You expect a troubled sixth-grader to pull something like this, not you guys. Especially not you. I am afraid, Charlie, you are on probation for the soccer team. Starting this summer. You will have to do community work all summer to prove to me that you are worth it."

Charlie opened his mouth to protest, his face was full-on red, as it does when he gets mad. This man was truly a fighter. Niall stopped him and got up, but before he could say anything, the principal forced him to sit down with his look, and he complied.

"The same goes for you, mister Horan. You will not be leading the cheerleading team again until you fulfill your community work for the school, along with mister Svenson."

"It was all my idea, sir." Louis finally spoke. "Please don't punish them for something I did, it's not fair that you do-"

"I have no power over you, mister Tomlinson. You don't engage in school activities; you don't partake in anything academic related. So I really cannot do much to punish you." Louis leaned back against chair, biting his bottom lip to suppress a chuckle. Being a lazy ass was finally getting profit. "However, I just happened to find this between the papers that were thrown." Principal Adams opened his drawer and took out a crumbled flyer for the party. "I'm afraid this _'_ Senior Bonfire' that your brothers started will have to end once and for all, and you are free to tell them that the school has always been aware of these parties your family started, and I'm sure your parents will be delighted to receive a phone call from us informing them of the things your brothers have done in their absence, or are they, too, aware of the existence of this bonfire?" He smirked, clasping both his hands together on his desk.

Louis’ mouth was hanging open. "You can't do that. It's a private event," he protested, rage running through his veins as he heard what that old decaying scum was implying.

"I have every right in me to suspend any kind of activities, private or not, that involve my students and was promoted on campus grounds, which means the school must be aware of it and approve it for it to happen. And, the cops are always just one phone call away."

Louis has had enough. He excused himself and got up, staring into his eyes as he gathered his school bag and left the office without saying another word. He didn’t even deserve to listen to another word Louis had to say and Louis definitely did not want to listen to anything _he_ had to say. But in reality, he was just scared his unfiltered mouth would just make everything worse for the three of them.

He sat down on one of the benches of the school’s campus, and waited for his friends to finish their meeting with the principal, for something that was entirely his fault. He felt so guilty, he most likely just costed his friends the domains of the soccer and cheer team, things he knew were too important for both Niall and Charlie, beyond his comprehension even. But to be completely honest, his guilt was overpowered by rage. As his queen Rachel Greene once taught him, no person, especially no authoritarian man, was going to be his lightning bearer. It was _his_ time to shine and to make his brothers proud, and to think that Adams almost took that chance away from him was just too much.

 _His_ party.

As Charlie was walking him home, he did feel more guilty. Charlie had his head down the whole way, and he avoided Louis’ actions as he brushed their hands together. That hurt, he has never rejected him in that way. But he lets it slip, they have never been affectionate in public anyway, and well, the street was a public place.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, feeling a bit vulnerable after the absence of attention from Charlie that he always gave him, Louis hated being ignored.

"Don't. It wasn't entirely your fault. I suggested that we break into the school's roof and do it from there." Charlie sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"But it was my idea that we do it in the first place." Louis spoke up a bit louder, Charlie stayed silent, looking at the road ahead of them.

"Don’t worry, really. You got the worst punishment out of all three. What are you going to do with everything you've prepared for this party?"

Louis chuckled, shaking his head. "Who exactly said the party was cancelled?"

"Um, principal Adams did..."

"Darling, I'm not going to let an old raisin like him stop me from getting my way. The party is happening, there's no doubt of that."

He smiled, finally grabbing his hand that was lingering beside his. "What are you going to do with the cabin?"

Oh shit. He was reeeally hoping he wouldn't get to that. "I don't know." He lied. "It was a jock’s tradition. To take a girl down there, and… you know.”

"Oh."

"But we'll see. I may not be able to follow the tradition verbatim, but I know where the keys are."

"That's better." He gave him a half smile. Looking into his dim eyes, he realized just how bad he felt about Charlie being on probation on the soccer team. If the cabin was the only way to make it up to him, then so be it. He felt it was long overdue, too.

Charlie left him outside the gated entrance of the Lordfort, a ridiculous embarrassing way of calling his house. After all these years Louis still couldn’t believe his parents bought a house with a _name_. And decided to _keep_ the name. _Lordfort_. Ridiculous.

He was greeted by Alex as soon as he entered the kitchen to grab a snack. “Hey, Alex. Would you pass me the oreos? I’m starving.”

"I just got a call from your school." He interrupted him, ignoring his starvation. "As much at it deeply scars my heart, the Bonfire isn't happening this year. And that's final."

***

The echo of the loud bang coming from his bedroom door as he slammed it shut after arguing with his older brothers about Principal Adam's call startled even himself. So much for always trying not to be a cliché teenager.

He was still in disbelief of what just happened. Of course. It could only happen to him. After 13 _freaking_ years of this stupid party, it is cancelled in _his_ year. Oh, please. It's not like Alex or Patrick never got suspended from school. Even Kyle, who is the family's 'saint' got in detention once for something way worse than what Louis did. Un-fucking-believable.

His bed squeaks as he sits, huffing and throwing himself backwards until his back hits the pillows. He lied down there for a couple of minutes, contemplating how miserable his life has become in less than two fucking hours, and it was all his fault. He always has to ruin everything for fucks sake. The one time he could show his brothers he was worth it after feeling like the black sheep of his family all his life and he fucking blows it.

He groans and sits back up abruptly, angrily grabbing the phone’s tube and dialing the number he knew by heart.

It didn't take long for Niall’s Irish voice to answer from the opposite side of the phone. "What’s up, dickhead?”

Oh, thank God. He didn't seem mad that Louis just quite literally got him banned from being cheer captain for the upcoming year.

“Niall, dude, I need you to please get me out of my misery.”

“Oh, finally. I’ve always wanted to be the one who puts the great Louis Tomlinson down once and for all.”

“Fuck off, you know what I mean. Let’s hang out? Please please plea-“

“Alright, Jesus, shut up. Luce and I were heading to the beach to meet some of the guys. Wanna come? I’m sure Charlie will tag along as well.”

“He didn’t say anything about going to the beach…”

"It wasn't planned, we're just going. One of Luce’s girls is friends with one of the boys from Bridgeport, and I hear the whole soccer team is coming along." He sang in a playful tone. Louis chuckled, agreeing to going.

He knew what his brothers would say if he asked them to go, he was practically grounded. So he threw on some swimming shorts, put on some flip-flops and dark sunglasses, and climbed out his window.

He decided not to take his car this time, it would be too obvious that he had sneaked out if his car wasn't in the garage and neither was he in his room. The beach they always went to wasn't a long walk from home and the exercise helped him clear his head for at least a minute.

Of course, the Bonfire would have to switch locations now. He was contemplating about throwing it at his summer house. But it's in the woods. And an hour away from Clearview. And the woods always sounded a bit murderous to him anyway. As much as boys loved to get into fights at parties, he wouldn't want to give them the privilege of drunk murdering someone with a shovel and burying them 500 meters from his house. Just, no.

He put his sunglasses on as his flip-flop-clad feet sunk into the sand. The sand has always been the worst part of the beach for him. It’s always so hot and sticky and God forbid you touch it while wet. Literally sent from Hell. He called out for Niall once he envisioned his blonde mane. He turned around, letting go of Luce's waist and waved towards him. Lucero noticed that Louis was coming over and smiled too, which warmed Louis’ heart up. There was something so special about that girl, he was grateful his friend found happiness in her.

Niall kissed Luce’s forehead and stood, walking towards Louis. "Come on, there are a few Bridgeport boys that would like to meet you." His Irish accent rasped, he grabbed him by the wrist and started to pull me towards them. "Or is Charlie going to be jealous about it?"

"We are not exclusive, as we are not official and never will be. But I need to talk to you about something."

He let go of his hand as soon as he heard Louis’ words turned serious. "What's wrong?"

"Principal Adams called my brothers. He told them about our... prank. And that the school was aware of the bonfire. They cancelled it." Niall's face dropped. "But I'm still throwing it, for your information. Don't look at me like that. I just need your help with something."

"You are crazy, but you also know I'd kill for you. And for this party. It's been our dream since we were thirteen."

"I know. That's why I need your help in finding transport for two hundred kids to Evelynn Woods."

"You're insane." He snorted.

"I'm serious. I really am."

“So am I.”

“Niall.”

"How long is the drive to the woods?" He sighed, giving in. Louis knew he would be of help. Niall was even more excited about this than Louis was at the beginning.

"An hour." Louis smiled embarrassed.

"I hate you, Louis. But my love for you surpasses that hatred. That's why I'm doing this you. I'll see what I can do."

Louis nudged him with his shoulder. "See? This is why you are my best friend."

He shrugged. "I know. But are you really sure about this? What are we going to tell your brothers? What if they want to come to the woods with us? Is this even going to work out?"

"First of all, I'll tell them it's your dad's birthday and you invited me along to celebrate it in your summer house. And besides, if no one came from the future to stop me from doing this, how bad of a decision can it really be?"

"I don't have a summer house."

Louis shrugged, continuing to make his way to where Niall was sitting before. "Yeah, but they don't know that." They stopped a few feet away from Luce and the Bridgeport boys, but Louis noticed someone was missing. "I thought Charlie was coming."

"Yeah, he got in trouble with his dad because of the whole probation thing. He's grounded. I don't think his dad is going to let him get out of the house all summer, unless it's for the school community service or soccer practice, of course." Niall said. Louis caused this. His dad was the only person Charlie was afraid of, and now he grounded him because of Louis. As if he hasn’t done enough damage already.

"How do you know this?" Louis asked him. "Did he call you?"

He nodded. "He told me to tell the boys he was sorry for not coming tonight."

"What else did he say?"

"Only that."

"Did he say anything about me? Why didn't he call me?"

"I don't know, truthfully." Oh, God. He probably hated Louis by now. He would hate himself too if he were Charlie. Okay, he does. He hates himself for doing this to him. And to Niall. It was selfish of him, he admitted that. "Why? I thought you said you weren't starting to develop feelings for him."

Louis could feel his face heating up. "I'm not. But I care about him. And it's all my fault this happened to him. I feel horrible."

***

The sun's bright light seeping through Louis’ closed eyelids as he attempted to get at least a small amount of vitamin D was suddenly blocked. Confused, he sat up. Niall was hovering over him, with a smile on that stupid face of his. "What?" Louis asked groggily.

"You're gonna loove me." He sat down next to Louis, his smile still not fading. He waited for Niall to continue, and he took the hint. "Bridgeport is a bigger town than Clearview, you know that."

"Yeah, and?"

"Their school is bigger, they have more students, and so on. And, and, wait for it... They have really good sports team which means they often travel a lot to different cities." He chirped drunk with excitement. Louis still didn't get his point. "Ugh, you idiot. They can borrow their school's buses to drive us up to the woods. I mean not actually borrow them, more like steal them but you get my point. One of the guys is the Coach's son and he can take the keys, they know where the buses are kept and no one will notice. The only condition is that the whole team must be invited to the bonfire."

Louis was grinning like an idiot now, the corners of his smile hurting his cheeks. "Done."

He saw no downside to this. Everything was just perfect. His bonfire was happening.

Except, of course, if they got caught. But there’s no use in worrying about that. You only get to live once, so.

If Niall had said that the only way they'd lend us the buses was for Louis to make out with the Coach's son he would do it in a second, no second thoughts. Hell, he would even make out with the whole Bridgeport team if it came down to it. Who's to stop him?

The grin was glued to his face all afternoon. He guessed that was the reason the Bridgeport boys were so interested in him and didn’t laugh or shut him down for giving off queer vibes. He seemed happy, and friendly, and most people avoided him most of the time. Nobody wanted to sit next to him on the first day of school, and even if they did approach him or were nice to him it was because of his brothers and family connections. It's not like he'd die for people to take the empty seat beside him, he actually prefers to use that seat for his own stuff, or save it for Charlie. But you know, sometimes it comes off as a bit offensive.

But this time it was different, they were actually making conversation with him, not just Niall, who is often everyone's favorite topic to talk about, and Louis loved that. He can be the attention whore sometimes, and he was especially loving the interest that the team's captain was having on him. They divided into a sub conversation involving only the two of them, he was telling Louis how his dad always keeps the keys to the school pride's buses in a little box under his bed, and how he won't be missing them for one weekend.

He and Louis talked, planning the getaway with the buses. Everyone that was invited to the party was to drive down a bus stop where the buses will be parked, and they will be arriving all together to the party and leaving together again at 4 a.m. One of them, however, was going to stay parked on the driveway to Louis’ summer house, where the whole team would crash because they had nowhere to sleep in the city and hotels were very expensive this time of the year.

It's like this was meant to happen to them, to Louis. Niall was meant to meet this green-eyed boy and introduce him to Louis, who just happened to be the Coach's son, and have the solution to their only problem.

Well, the only problem they had the energy to care about.

He sighed, content, smiling as the sunshine hit his closed-eyed face and began to spread its warmth over his skin as soon as he diverted their small conversation to one of his mates, snickering about a guy -another teammate, he guessed- called Harry. They sounded like tween girls gossiping, Louis smiled with his lips closed at that thought. Teenage boys are so cute and stupid. He loves it. 

As their conversation had died down, Louis got up and excused himself, walking away from the group and towards an elderly man attending a very occupied ice cream stand. As he was waiting in line, the setting sun caught his eye.

His favorite part of coming to the beach were the sunsets, but he loved the summer sunrises as well, if not more. They're just mesmerizing, and so hard to take pictures of, so he told himself to enjoy every sunset that he can, because from that moment on they would only live in his memories.

After he had paid the lovely elder man for his chocolate ice cream, he stood on the side of the sidewalk were the beach ended, just contemplating the masterpiece that mother nature gifted them with at dawn every single day. It was pink that day, a beautiful pink sunset. It matched his outfit, he thought, ha.

He was so focused on the natural event that he didn't notice his ice cream melting off the cone. "Shit." he cursed in a whisper looking for something to clean his sticky hands with. He licked the melting chocolate off his hands and the cone, but his hands were still all sticky and gross. After finishing the rest of the sweet cold cream, Louis walked to a public shower in hopes of cleaning his hands. After he closed the running water, something caught his eye.

He has a thing for broad, muscular backs, you see. He finds them extremely attractive, they make a boy instantly ten times hotter. If the front matched the back, he definitely earned Louis’ attention right away.

His back had a few freckles, and it was flushed from the sun. His muscles contracted as he moved, the back of his biceps coming to Louis’ range of view to show a few drawings of temporary ink on them. Louis was so curious about what all the movements were about. He had a backpack next to him, but his entire body covered what he was working on.

As he approached, the corner of a brush stuck out. He was painting.

Louis was then standing a little less than five feet away from him, as he finally understood his masterpiece. He was painting the sunset. But instead of using reds, pinks and oranges, he was painting it in... yellow?

All shades of yellow, with a little bit of orange to accentuate the depth and warmth. Did he run out of all the other colors in the wheel? Why in the world did he have that many shades of yellow in his palette?

Louis got even closer, "Nice painting." He commented. The boy sat right up, startled. He looked back at Louis, a tad annoyed he assumed.

"Thanks," he whispered. He put the canvas away, it wasn't even dry yet. Louis cringed.

"Why only the yellow spectrum?" He asked. He never saw this boy before in his life, and he really has talent. Louis’ parents are art collectors and he was always interested in the matter, hence the curiosity. He looked at Louis again, and he dare say, the front did make justice to the back.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said again in a slow, husky voice, picking up his stuff and walking away from him. He thinks he caught a bit on an accent as well.

But damn.

Curiosity did kill the cat.


End file.
